Running Head: MAKING A KILLING 1

Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging

Name

Course Name:

Course Instructor:

Date of Submission:
MAKING A KILLING 2

Making A Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging

The World Health Organization, WHO, defines mental health as a state of well-being in

which an individual knows and realizes their own capabilities, is productive in their endeavors

and can work with and in stressful situations in their lives. It does not define it as merely the

absence of a mental disorder or disease. Mental disorder is defined as a significant deviation

from that is seen as normal behavior in an individual by the society.

Mental disorders affect millions of people all over the world and throughout the evolution

of mankind; humans have dealt with mental disorders in various ways. In the ancient times,

mental illnesses were treated by religious leaders and this led on to use of contemporary

medicine in the modern world.

The documentary, Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic Drugging is a

1999 production of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) that focuses on the

corruption in the Psychotropic drugging industry. It basically shows how stakeholders in this

industry are neglectful to the well-being and health of patients in administering and production of

psychotropic drugs all so as to make some money.

The documentary uses real-life experiences to demonstrate the animosity behind these

psychotropic drugs that instead of helping the patients, more often deteriorates their mental state.

An example is one where the Beth Winter’s family talks about her as a fun and harmless person.

However, after having trouble sleeping, Beth went to see her doctor who prescribed Paxil to help

her situation. However, her personality and mood started changing from the very first day she

took her medication and sadly, a week later, she hung herself.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a manual that

entails all mental disorders, their characteristics, causes and best ways of treating these disorders.
MAKING A KILLING 3

However, the DSM has been reviewed a lot recently and this begs the question of its authenticity.

It has recently been revised from a 130-page booklet with 106 mental disorders to an 886-page

booklet with 374 mental disorders (Burwell & Stith, 2008).

According to Chapter 4, Lemert classifies the labeling theory in two categories: primary

deviance and secondary deviance. Primary deviance is when an individual’s behavior and

mannerisms are not deemed to be ‘normal’ and are said not to reflect the true characters of the

individual. Secondary deviance is when this individual is labeled as deviant. Characteristics of

the labeled are therefore used to describe a mental illness.

From the documentary, it is almost as if the DSM disorder labeling system is being used

for labeling purposes seeing how it is being continually revised upwards, therefore including

more and more illnesses and therefore increasing the medicine needed for cure.

It is therefore alarming how all this happens without the action of stakeholders in the

industry. Well, one word, corruption! According to the CCHR, all this started in 1967 when

some psychiatrists met in Puerto Rico with the objective to develop drugs that could influence

almost all of human behavior and considering almost 100 million people in the world are using

these drugs, they could be said to be successful. Since then, leaders in psychiatry have worked

with the pharmaceutical industry all so as to turn these plans made in 1967 into millions of

shillings. This same leaders are responsible for the review of the DSM.

The documentary also highlights how a branch of the FDA, responsible for testing of

these drugs so as to ensure that they are safe for the patients, has been receiving huge sums of

money so as to conduct hurried and haphazard test on these drugs. A good example is how in the

early 1990s, it was an FDA recommendation that a drug be evaluated for at least 2 years but due

to pressure from the pharmaceutical industry, this time span was reduced to 6 months. It also
MAKING A KILLING 4

shows how some of the main stakeholders of this branch of the FDA have made huge

investments in the companies making these drugs causing a conflict of interest.

The documentary basically serves as a warning to people all over the world to be vigilant

and inquisitive of the medication they take and their side-effects even when prescribed for by a

doctor. It does not encourage people to stop taking the drugs but to be more careful and aware of

what medication they or their families are on.

MAKING A KILLING 5

References

Burwell, T., & Stith, R. (Directors). (2008). Making a Killing: The Untold Story of Psychotropic

Drugging [Motion Picture].